I have an idea for this blank wall in our shop. I had this idea for our St. Louis shop, but there was never a really good wall to use. Wall space is valuable in a shop! However, this one needs to stay shelf-free because otherwise the aisle gets too narrow. We could hang a quilt there, but I have a better idea. I’d like to do an inspirational collage with photos and text. That’s where you come in!
As I was going through Pinterest today during lunch, I realized that there are a lot of old pictures of knitters out there. I don’t mean elderly knitters. I mean the photos were taken a long time ago. Where are the current photos of people knitting and having fun? Young, old, male, female, groups and singles? To look at the photos, you’d think this was an art that dyed out more than 50 years ago. See what I mean?
So what I’d like to do with this wall is to feature pictures of knitters (knitting alone or in knitting groups), and include quotes from people about why they knit. Would you like to be on our wall, inspiring others? I’d love for you to send us photos of you and/or your friends knitting. (send them to: jberger@theloopyewe.com) Include a note that tells us where you are from, if you’d like us to add that to the photo. We’d like to show that knitting is fun for everyone, and still alive and well in the world! I’d also love to know why you knit. Why is it important to you? What does it do for you? Is it something you’ll do forever, or until a new hobby comes up? Do you come from a long line of knitters, or are you the first in your family? Leave a comment below and let us know. We’ll print out some of your comments to include with the photos on the wall.
As a thank you for your help with this project, we’ll be drawing some winners from the participants! We’ll draw a name from the comments below (answering the question, “Why do you knit?”) for a $25 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate. If you email us a photo, we’ll enter you into an additional contest, where you could win a special package from us. If you send us a photo of your whole knitting group and you win, we’ll mail you a box with a gift for everyone in the photo!
Of course I’ll share a photo of the wall when we’re done. I hope your picture or comment will be up there!
Sheri whomighthavetoaddtheJackBauerphototothewallaswell
I knit because it feels terrific to be creative! Knitting is perfect. You can put it down and pick it right back up. You can knit in a car, on a plane, waiting in line or while watching your favorite show. You can take it anywhere you go except maybe the shower 😉 All of this enjoyment in the making and when you are done you have a one of a kind item that you can keep or give or sell. Knitting realxes the mind and soul as well as challenges the brain. Quite simply, it is just perfect!
I love to knit because I love to create durable and beautiful things. It is so satisfying to make something, thinking about the future recipient as the project takes shape. I love the texture of well-made yarn, and I love that it’s an ancient craft that I can teach my children.
I am sharing this with my knitting group, Q-City Yarnies. We meet every Wednesday, so I am going to posit the idea of this contest tonight, and see if we have any takers. I don’t see why they wouldn’t go for it. Or I could just take their pictures and not tell them why. We’ll see which idea works.
I learned to knit when I was 7 or 8 and since we did not have TV, knitting was one of my hobbies. My great aunt knit sweaters and skirts, but we had to ‘quit growing’ before she would knit for us. I love being creative with yarn and it’s much easier to fit a body with knitting than fabric.
I love this idea! I guess why I still knit is different than why I started knitting. I started knitting15 years ago because I thought it was a shame that hand making skills weren’t being passed along to my generation, I had a romanticized notion of the past (and still do). Today I continue to knit because I find it relaxing – or at least gives me something tangible to be frustrated with and distracts me from problems not as easily fixable as a slipped stitch so I’m relaxed about my real life problems after a round of knitting! I also love seeing the look on someone’s face when you give them a hand knit gift and they say “You made that?!” People just seem to cherish handmades more. Photo of me knitting on the beach is on its way!
I knit to keep me sane. I am a graduate student in English Literature. My former method of relaxation was reading, but when I started school, reading became my job. Knitting became my stress relief. I have a chronic pain disorder and generalized anxiety disorder and knitting is something that I can tailor to fit the needs of my physical and mental health. If I want to be social, I can knit stockinette socks and talk with my friends at the same time. If I don’t want to think about life, I can pick up lace or complex cables. When my hands are sore from my disorder, I can use bigger needles to help keep me going. And when I’m anxious and nothing feels like it is going right, I can pick up some needles and yarn and know that I can produce something soft, beautiful, and useful. Honestly, knitting has likely saved my sanity.
I knit because I breathe. Knitting is my yoga, my psychotherapy, my peace in the chaos…I get to make cool things, while feeling lovely fiber and looking at pretty colors. I will knit until I no longer can.
My mother was a seamstress and she taught me to sew. Her best friend was a knitter who taught me to knit, then I turned around and taught my mother. My maternal grandmother was a spinner, crocheter, knitter and seamstress. I am pretty sure my paternal grandmother also knitted.
Knitting is therapeutic … it puts me in my Zen. My aunt knits but she lives in FL while I live in IL. I’d have to say that I’m ABOUT the only knitter in my family. I will knit as long as my hands let me!
When are pictures needed by.
I knit because I like the process. I am a scientific/mathematical/logical person and the processof sitting down with string and sticks and creating a garment or accessory or decor item is amazing. I tend to knit more for others. I was recently gifted with a hand knit cowl and the thrill of being on the receiving end was emotional. My knitting group of over 20 souls is amazing. Only a handful were knitters ,the rest learned. Last year we donated 138 hats to a cancer center. Many learned to be able to knit the hats. The camaraderie and sense of pride and respect a knitting group shares is like no other. I will always knit,have started designing and one day will have a book. I am thrilled the next generation has hopped on the band wagon and in this world of instant gratification realize the time spent creating is a worthwhile endeavor
Like most people, I knit for so many reasons… It’s calming, it keeps me busy, and it’s productive! I love to be able to provide people I care about one of a kind things that are both warm, functional, and beautiful. There’s a perfect knitting project for any situation – small and portable, complex when I need to occupy my mind, plain and simple for when I just need to unwind, and anyplace in between. It’s so versatile!
Knitting keeps me sane !
I knit for peace of mind.To me knitting is what meditation is to others. It relaxes me, makes me feel as though I am accompolishing something, love those who I knit for and think about while I am knitting.
Knitting is wonderful!!! All the beautiful yarns, needles and patterns. Knitting is for me endless.
I knit to relax and to bring out my creative side. Being an accountant and playing with numbers all day, my brain longs to be let loose at the end of the day. Knitting provides this outlet.
Why do I knit? I knit to relax. I knit to unwind, to switch off, to calm down. I knit to make things for my loved ones. I knit to learn new techniques. I knit to do something with my hand spun! I knit so that I’m warm and my family are warm. I knit to keep my hands busy when I’m waiting – for children at school and at the pool, at the Dr, …
I knit because it makes me happy. 🙂
I knit to stay sane, to unwind, to relax. I had just started knitting in 2007 less than a year before I was diagnosed with cancer. Knitting kept me calm during all the treatment and recovery and also gave me a sense of value and accomplishment because I could sit in my chair and create wonderful things at the same time. Knitting has remained my saving grace in the ensuing years especially during the period after my husband was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. After he passed my life utterly changed, but the knitting was a constant and a perfect place to go when I just needed to regroup. I love my friend who reintroduced knitting into my life just before I really needed it more than anything.
I started because it looked interesting. I kept doing it because it makes me feel good.
I knit because it is a good outlet for my creativity, a good stress reducer (most of the time) and I just love the feel of the yarn going through my fingers as I make each new item. Bottom line, knitting keeps me sane in an otherwise crazy world!
I knit because I can! Everyone thinks it’s so difficult, but they don’t realize how easy it really is. It’s also somewhat of a family tradition. Granny (my maternal grandfather’s mother) could do all sorts of needlework, and I guess I inherited that gene. My aunt (one of Granny’s granddaughters) taught me the knit stitch when I was 11, and I’ve been knitting ever since. Granddad (my paternal grandmother’s father) could also knit. His mother had 10 children – 6 boys and 4 girls – and she had much to do as a farm wife in West Virginia. When each child was old enough to hold knitting needles, they were made responsible for knitting their own socks to save their mother time for other chores. Granddad knitted his own socks until he got married and Grandma started knitting for him instead. Socks are my favorite item to knit, so maybe I get that gene from him!
I knit because I’m lazy 🙂 There, I said it. I love to watch tv, and knitting makes tv watching more productive and less of a guilty pleasure. I’m also a fiddler… if I sit still too long, I start fiddling with my nails, my hair band, anything I can get my hands on. If I have needles and yarn, I can make that fiddling productive. I love that I can produce something beautiful (usually), and hopefully useful to someone. Knitting keeps me sane and gives me a sense of purpose and productivity. I love it, and would be lost without it.
What a great idea! I started knitting because its a lower calorie hobby than baking. Its more transportable than sewing. Its more interruptible than reading. And it seems to restore a balance to the mind similar to that of running, but with much less sweat and no worries about the weather.
I knit because it allows me to create something beautiful, whether life is beautiful at the time or not.
Why do I knit? Mostly I knit to relax, I find it soothing (and sensual really) to feel those silky strands of fiber sliding through my fingers. That’s why the ability to buy good quality yarn online from The Loopy Ewe is so important to me. Being “artistic” and “crafty” while also satisfying my inner accountant… I love to count… makes knitting the perfect pastime for me! I love the idea for the wall, can’t wait to see it.
As so many have indicated, I knit because I am. Having a creative outlet is very important to me, and knitting is a very special part of my life. I started with sewing and crocheting at about 12 or 13; sewing out of necessity as there wasn’t much money for new clothes back then, crocheting because I saw my grandmother make pretty things with very little and it intrigued me. I picked up knitting as an adult and love it for so many reasons: it’s portable, useful, beautiful, sensual, calming, relaxing, it can be done alone or with family/friends, inside or outside, at home or out and about (probably even upside down, but I’ve never tried that!).
I knit to relieve stress! To make the cute things for my kids, or very rarely me.
What a great idea!! I love old photographs – and the ones you listed in the blog are awesome. I like those better than current ones actually. I do genealogy as another hobby, and I wish I had some relative photos where they are knitting. I’d LOVE that. Anyway, knitting is new to me. It really satisfies my “OCD” tendencies and my need to “count” items. I’m a closet math nerd as well. I’m a problem solver, and I can’t put something down until I master it. So, I’m not the “Knit for relaxation” knitter, hahaha. I’m also very fond of touching all the yarn, and the colors. I’m very bland in the real world (paint, furniture, clothes…), but with yarn, I am oddly attracted to the colors. I love the satisfaction of completing a project, and the compliments that come after 🙂
I knit because I have cold feet. 😀 And knitting is fun.
I knit for my sanity. It helps me wait patiently in line, attend kid soccer games with hyper parents, and unwind at the end of the day. Plus I get pretty things to wear or give!
I knit because it’s a hobby I can take with me anywhere I want to go. I knit because I love the idea of wearable, usable, tactile art. I knit because in a world where most of what I do is contained to the digiverse, I can see and feel my progress as I work on a project. And most importantly, I knit to calm my mind, body and soul.
Knitting gives me patience. Patience to sit in a waiting room. Patience to sit while waiting for a lecture or a movie. Patience while waiting for an airplane or on a long flight. The list goes on and on. When someone suggests I must have a lot of patience to knit, I try to explain that it is the other way around. And though it is wonderful to have a lovely knit item at the end, it is really the process that is important to me.
Why do I knit? Knitting is my therapy. It absolutely changes with my mood. Stressed? I knit simple garter stitch. Feeling calm and happy? I knit lace. And the best part is that it’s cheaper than a therapist (even with fabulous yarn) and I have something wonderful for myself or others at the end!!!
I learned how to knit when I was young–at 4 I was crocheting and was knitting by 6 or 7. I learned to make Barbie dresses on 4 needles and didn’t know that it was “difficult”. LOL. As a teenager, I found new things to do, but at 20, I moved to Germany where my friend (a German) got me back into it. After that, I learned how to make socks and lace and MORE. Knitting makes me sane. When all the crazies are around, knitting is my nirvana. Now it’s been (cough cough) nearly 30 years since then…
I knit to keep my hands busy so I don’t eat cookies
I’ve always been a hyper-active person and high strung. I didn’t start knitting till I was 50. I’m now 54. It calms me. It helps center me. It’s a beautiful thing. When my world starts spinning out of control and my mouth starts going a mile a minute, I can pick up my knitting and experience a quieting of my soul.
Knitting (A Haiku)
Knit, purl, yarn over, knit
Two together, Pass slipped stitch
Over, Repeat from.
I knit because knitting is poetry in motion!
I knit to relieve stress and create beautiful and useful objects. At first, I learned to knit from my boss, as she knew I was dealing with a lot of anxiety and stress. And then I became addicted. I’ve always been a creative person, but without the natural talent for drawing or painting, etc. To know that there were so many elements to knitting and so many skills to learn, but that it was all possible, and not based on being a talented artist per se, that freed my creative spirit. It’s wonderful to put all of my concentration on something outside myself, outside of my head.
I knit for the sheer relaxation that it gives me. I can focus on the pattern, create something to please me and feel a great sense of accomplishment. I have to do some every day in order to feel that the day was good.
I found a good quote from E Zimmerman that you may include on the wall.
“Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit either.”
― Elizabeth Zimmermann
Good luck and show us the final project.
I knit because I can plus it helps keep me focused. I also enjoy the process of finding the next knitting project and searching through my stash or Rav to find just the right yarn. I also enjoy the fact that as I knit more I have gotten faster and I find myself willing to try more difficult patterns so I also enjoy the challenge that knitting has brought to my life.
I knit because it makes me feel close to my grandmother who taught me to knit one summer when I was 9. (I’m not 62) We sat on the couch every afternoon with the fan on us and we watched Password. It also lets me watch tv and feel like I’m accomplishing something!
I knit because I find it both soothing and engaging at the same time. I’ve always been a ‘maker’ and it is the perfect outlet.
I knit for a bunch of reasons. It’s fun. It’s fascinating to watch patterns — both texture and color — develop. It’s amazing how, when you’re in the middle of that endless stockinette section of something, it feels forever like you’re going nowhere, and all of a sudden you’re there. And it’s very therapeutic. I spent lots of time in emergency rooms and hospitals with my mom, and on more than one occasion, not only did my knitting sooth me, but it soothed the families around me, and entertained and quieted children in situations/locations that are anything but soothing.
In short: I knit because it’s MAGIC.
I just love knitting. At this point I knit because I don’t know how to stop! I need the feel of the yarn going through my fingers.
I knit for many reasons. I love beautiful yarn and the wonderful fabrics I can make with them. I love the satisfaction of having made something that someone can use. The act of knitting is meditative and (usually!) relaxing. And,I love the connection I feel with other knitters – it’s like we speak a shared language!
In 2001, my office was very close to the World Trade Center. I saw too much. When I rediscovered knitting 6 months later, it had a major therapeutic effect. Now, I just love playing with color and creating things with lovely yarn.
This is a difficult question to answer! For me, it’s so many things, all wrapped up together. There’s the love of colour and the love of fine yarn. I like to bundle up and be warm, so I love to wear the things I’ve knitted. I love to make my own things, which is why I also sew. I enjoy the challenge of pairing yarn with pattern and getting them all to work together nicely. I like the intellectual challenge of altering patterns, when needed, and fixing problems. Knitting also works for me because it keeps me happy in less intellectually-stimulating situations, like waiting in line, waiting for an appointment, attending a meeting, or waiting for my kid. It allows me to watch tv and still accomplish something. And those are just the first reasons that came to mind.
Why do I knit? There are so many different reasons and they change daily.
I knit for enjoyment. I knit for peace of mind. I knit for adventure. I knit for patience. I knit eagerly, being mindful of what I do and thankful for so much. Eager to see what lies in that next row. Such color! Gorgeous patterns! Mindful because I can knit something that keeps others warm when they might not have much. It also needs to be beautiful for them and not just to me. Thankful to those who design such wonderful patterns for me to knit. Thankful also to my grandmother and mother who spent several days of precious time one summer teaching a 7 year old (me) to knit. I love my obsession, this hobby that has taught me so much about life for so very little effort. I’m the only child of my generation who knits; most of my cousins got a love of fabric instead of string from that same grandmother. They all make wonderful quilts.
I knit to soothe my mind and mend my soul. It is a moment of meditation for me. I am a photographer, so it always seemed natural to me to want to create. The need to create has led me to a passion for knitting, sewing, and cooking as well.
Like many others, I knit to relieve stress, and keep me calm. It’s a connection to my gran, who taught me. She was never without yarn and needles at her side, and neither am I.
Also, my husband is addicted to hand-knit socks! He’s diabetic, and they’re great for his feet.
I knit to turn off my brain, and tune into my soul.
I started knitted because my job is stressful and knitting helps me relax. I continue to knit because I enjoy how it lets me be creative and make something pretty I can wear at the same time. Plus, it helps with my dexterity, and makes me productive while watching tv.
I knit so I can buy yarn 🙂 I also knit so that I don’t feel like I’m wasting time when I have to wait around for the doctor, dentist or orthodontist (my 2 girls are seeing one). I knit to be creative. I knit because my husband wants his cashmere socks and slippers. I knit because my girls want socks, shawls, hats and toys. My science brain loves how a socks is created in knitting. I knit to feel and look at pretty yarn. 😀 I’ll knit until I can and then I might bring out the loom and knit that way!